Contents

Parish History

BEDLINGTON (St. Cuthbert), a parish and division, in the union of Morpeth, N. division of the county of Northumberland, 5½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Morpeth.[1]

Additional Information:

The church is dedicated to St. Cuthbert, whose remains are said to have rested here, on the flight of the monks from Durham upon the approach of the Conqueror, in 1069; it was enlarged and repaired in 1818. At the eastern extremity of the village is a petrifying spring, called Spinner's Well.

The parish of St Paul Choppington was created to serve the colliery at Choppington: A small unpretentious 'colliery church', it was built to serve the growing mining village of Choppington. Architecturally it is simple and uncluttered, set in a spacious churchyard containing some fine beech trees. The processional cross is in memory of those who lost their lives in the two Choppington pits - both closed in the early 1960s. The brass altar cross is of unusual design and of particularly fine workmanship. Once a colliery church, St Paul's now serves a parish of several large housing estates. [The Newcastle Diocesan Gazetteer (1982), page 19.]

Resources

Civil Registration

Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church Records

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/19 1760-1858 for Bedlington Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. The Choppington transcripts are at DDR/EA/PBT/2/55 for 1869-1871 . The Bedlington transcripts have yet been loaded and await engineering.

The dates of the post-1760 transcripts have been noted in detail and sometimes only cover years. For most parishes in the collection there are gaps in the sequence of transcripts. It is advisable to consult the original parish registers for these years and events.

Bedlington, St Cuthbert: Records of baptisms 1653-1950, marriages 1653-1955 and burials 1653-1937 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1643-1812 and marriages 1653-1812 for this parish, Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1653-1812 and banns 1751-1777. Transcripts of baptisms, burials and marriages 1653-1812 are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept. A transcript of monumental inscriptions at Bedlington (microfiche TN72) is published by Northumberland and Durham Family History Society and these records are also available in book form at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Department.

Census records

Census records from 1841 to 1911 are available online. For access, see England Census Records and Indexes Online. Census records from 1841 to 1891 are also available on film through a Family History Center or at the Family History Library. The first film number is 241345.

Poor Law Unions

Probate records

Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Northumberland Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers

Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.